My Vacation from A to Z -- (R)

Yep.... we skipped "Q". LOL!

R is for Rental Car

Miranda and I realllllly wanted an SUV for our rental car, just for fun. But, we went the economical route and opted for a sedan that got great gas mileage!! It was a Mitsubishi Galant. 

R is for River

This is the Delaware River at sunrise. It separates Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

R is for Row Homes

This is the street where David's mom grew up. The houses are EXACTLY alike!! The are one long row of homes!! In order to get to the back of the house, you either have to go thru the house or walk (or drive) around the whole block and then up the alley to get to there!!

Parking on the street is a MUST in a neighborhood like this!

This is the home that David's mom grew up in. I was there only once, right after David and I met.

R is for Radio City Music Hall

This is where the famous "Rockettes" do thier Christmas performance in NYC.

My Vacation A to Z --- (L)

Yes. We skipped "K". I didn't really have anything for it!

L is for LIBERTY BELL

Well, we didn't get to go and see it this time because of the VERY long line of people waiting to see it! We have seen it before, so we opted out. Plus it was VERY hot and we were VERY tired!!

See the long line?

L is for LIBRARY

While we were in NYC, I really wanted to see the New York City Public Library which was used in the movie... "The Day After Tomorrow". I just wanted to at least walk into the lobby of it and see that grand staircase that Jake Gyllenhaal and his classmates RAN UP to escape the rush of water, taking over the city! It was really neat being inside the building! I also got a great photo of the scene in the movie, when the wall of water is coming down the street towards the Library.

Just imagine.... a HUGE wall of water coming towards you, as you tried to make it to safety inside the library!!

There's the stairs that they ran up!! So pretty!! Miranda and I "pretended" to run up them! Haha!

It was the 100th birthday of the Library.

L is for LIGHTHOUSE

While we were on the Staten Island Ferry, we spotted this lighthouse. I looked it up later and found out that it is "The National Lighthouse & Museum". Miranda and I thought it was SO pretty! I would love to see inside of it someday.

A "zoomed in" look! So pretty!

L is for LATE SHOW

We saw where David Letterman does his Late Show.



My Vacation A to Z ---- (G & H)

G is for GROUND ZERO

We visited the site of the 9/11 attack, now known as "Ground Zero". There isn't much to see right now. Only construction. Next month, on September 11th, it will be the 10th anniversary of that horrible attack on our country and the day that so many people lost their innocent lives. There is a memorial being built at the sight, but it isn't complete. All that we could see were construction fences. The "feeling" of the area was a somber one, even with all of the noise around us.

More buildings are being built to replace the ones that were destroyed.

Fence around the construction area.

This building is part of the 9/11 Memorial. So are the trees just beyond the fence.

A beautiful memorial wall.

A poster of all the firefighters that lost their lives on that horrible day.

Artwork in a window near the 9/11 site.

A slight "peek" beyond the fence.

G is for GENO'S

While we were in Philadelphia, we were anxious to have an authentic Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich! There are two places that claim that they have the original sandwich. Pat's Steaks and Geno's. These two places are across the street from one another, believe it or not!! David's family has always chosen Pat's Steaks as their favorite, but here's a look at Geno's across the street!!

This is the view that we had of Geno's as we stood in line for a Pat's Steak!

H is for HOTEL

During our vacation, the only time that we stayed in a hotel was when we stayed in NYC. We knew that we wanted to stay in the Times Square District because it is central to just about EVERYTHING! We waited until the day before we were to arrive in NYC to book our hotel through Priceline. We were "hoping" to get a room for $200 or under... but.... we quickly learned that this would be impossible! I won't tell you how much we paid, but it was WORTH IT to pay the extra!! We ended up with a 4 star, right IN Times Square!!! It was awesome! We stayed at The Renaissance Hotel.

Here, we are driving... well... DAVID is driving... and looking for our hotel. That's it. Up ahead, on the right. The black building, with red. Times Square is just down the street, to the right!

These are the HUGE billboards that were right across the street from our hotel!

We are standing in the middle of Times Square. Those tall buildboards are attached to our hotel!! THAT's how close we were to Times Square!

This was our view from our hotel window, looking to the left.... up 7th Street. Check out all of those taxi's!!!

This was our view to the right. Times Square is just out of the picture, to the right!!!!

Remember those HUGE billboards across from our hotel??? Well.... They ended up being right outside our window!!!! Miranda and I had a fun idea and took this photo!!! LOL!!! That's Daniel Radcliff (aka: Harry Potter)! He's now starring in a Broadway show! 

H is for HOME ALONE

"Home Alone, Lost in New York" is one of our favorite family movies! It was on our minds a lot while we were in NYC. As we were walking... the many miles that we walked!!.... we spotted this picture and note, randomly taped to a water meter box!! Too funny!!

My Vacation A to Z ---- (F)

F is for FERRY

The very first thing that we did when we arrived in NYC, is ride the Staten Island Ferry!! It was one of the FREE things that we could do, so it was first on the list!

I still remember when I first met David and he told me about the Staten Island Ferry. Of course, 30 years ago... he still spoke with a "Northern" accent. (Now.... he is fully SOUTHERN!! **Smile**) When he told me about the ferry, he pronounced it "f-U-rry"... with a "u"!) I laughed SO HARD!! Of course, I knew what he was talking about, but I teased him about it having "fur" on it!! I have never forgotten that moment! He also had plenty of chances, back then, to make fun of my "southern" accent!

Here are a few pics of The Staten Island FURRY!!

I'll save my pics of what we saw from the ferry for later in my list!

F is for FAMILY

It was GREAT getting to see David's family!!! We don't get up north too often. Our main goal was to see Granny, David's 99 year old grandmother! -- She is "G.G." to the girls. Of course, we got to see David's mom and many other members of his family while were in Philadelphia, as well.

David's mom, and her two oldest grandbabies.

Family picture!

When we went to visit Granny, we got to go through a lot of old photographs that she had. I took pictures of quite a few of them, so that I would have them.

This is a picture of Granny's mother.... David's Great-grandmother.

This is David's Grandfather... Granny's husband.

Miranda & Ashley and their cousin, Tyler. He is 12 years old and such a cutie!!

Granny and three of her Great-grandchildren.

(In the background, you see a family friend. His son is married to Tyler's mom)

We get a picture together with Granny. She is THE sweetest woman!! We love her so much!! She is doing pretty darn good for being 99 years old!! Her short-term memory isn't there so much, but her long-term memory is TOTALLY there!

David and his Granny.

Family Picture. To the right of Miranda is David's cousin and David's Uncle & Aunt. His uncle is his David's dad's brother (Granny's youngest son). David's dad died about 8 years ago of cancer.

Miranda was a bit "creeped out" (her words) when Uncle Dale walked through the door!! He looked SO MUCH like her Grandpa!! (David's Dad)

In Virginia, we spent a few days at David's brother's house. That is Bob on the right. He has two girls that are just a little younger than Miranda. His wife took the picture. Bob wanted a family dinner photo of all of us eating dinner and Jimmy Buffet on the TV screen in the background! -- Check out all of our sun-burned faces!!! LOL!!

F is for FUDGE

Granny LOVES fudge!! So, while we were in Atlantic City, we bought her some!

F is for FISH HEADS

Once, while we were in the car with Bob and his family, the song "Fish Heads", sung by Alvin and the Chipmunks... came on the radio!!! I had never heard it before, but David and Bob broke out into singing and entertained us with their memory of the words to the song! Our girls were like..... "Ewwww!! What kind of song is that??" This song became "their song" for the rest of our visit!! LOL!!!

F is for FEDEX

While we were on our trip, FedEx was represented VERY WELL!!! David was glad to see that it was!

This was on a building that we passed by while making our way through Washington DC.

We saw FedEx Trucks EVERYWHERE while we were in NYC!!!

Even on our way out of NYC, as we passed by the Newark, New Jersey Airport.... we saw the FedEx building and some planes.

And, we saw this FedEx plane while were waiting at the Philly Airport. We saw some at the Atlanta Airport too, but I didn't get a picture of them.

F is for FLOATING and FISH

While we were at Bob's house, we spend one day hanging out on his lake. One of the things that they like to do is drop anchor and "float". Well.... I am NOT a fan of lakes!! I like to SEE what is in the water below me!!! I like swimming pools and I only like the ocean when it is CLEAR!

I didn't want to get in that lake, but it was very HOT and the only way to cool off was to get in the water. Debby (Bob's wife) talked me into getting in. The water felt good. She, Miranda, Bob, David & myself were all floating in the water... holding onto or sitting on floatation devices! .... when all of a sudden.... Miranda screams.... OUCH!!!!!! And grabs her leg!!! I am like..... "WHAT HAPPENED?????". And Debby tells Miranda.... "Shhhhhh!!! You're fine!" (She was trying to keep ME from freaking out and getting out of the water!!)

A few minutes later..... David screams... OUCH!!!! And yells... "Something BIT ME!!!"  Now, I'm starting to FREAK OUT!!! And I was about to get back in the boat, when Debby calms me down and just tells me to keep moving my feet. So I DID!!! I kicked LIKE CRAZY!!! 

Then.... Bob screams..... OUCH!!!!!! And THAT is when I got OUT OF THE WATER!!!

These pics were taken before I got out of the water. You can see Miranda already OUT of the water!!! Smart girl!!

F is for FINANCIAL DISTRICT

After we rode the Staten Island Ferry, we walked over the area of NYC known as the Financial District. David really wanted to see "Wall Street".

Trinity Church was amazingly beautiful among all of those skyscrapers!

One of my favorite pictures!

The other side of The New York Stock Exchange building.

We had NO IDEA that the stocks were taking a huge dump that day!!

F is for FAO SCHWARZ

Miranda really wanted to see this giant toy store, although.... it wasn't as big as it appears to be on TV!

These "Harry Potter" dolls were pretty neat!

"The Big Piano" as seen in the movie "Big" with Tom Hanks.

My girls were like...... "I'm not taking my shoes off and putting my feet on that nasty thing!!"

Lego "Indiana Jones"

The girls with Lego Statue of Liberty

F is for FOX NEWS

On Friday morning, we were trying to find one of the morning news shows to watch and maybe meet the news anchors as they greeted the guests outside thier studios.... but, both ABC & NBC were having concerts going on, so that was a "no go". We ended up stumbling upon another, "smaller" concert outside of the Fox News studio!! We saw a stage and not very many people in front of it, so we got excited!!! As we got closer, we learned that it was a guy named Matt Nathanson. My girls knew who he was. David and I did not. He was just beginning to play when we got there and I DID recognize the first song that he sang... but, I can't tell you now what it was!

Behind us.... THIS guy was being interviewed LIVE!! David recognized him from Fox Business News. We learned that he was reporting on the Stock Market "dump" from the day before.

We were hungry, so we walked across the street to get our NYC bagel!